State Sen. O'Connor says open dialog key to good government

Monday

Jul 10, 2017 at 11:12 AM

“I want them to know that their problem is our top concern and that constituent services will be at the forefront of what we do,” said O’Connor, “and that when they call here, that someone is going to listen at the end of the line and try their hardest to provide a solution to that problem.”

Abigail Adams correspondent

Ask most constituents about their perception of the current political atmosphere, and many will tell you partisan politics is tearing the entire country down the middle.

Ask state Senator Patrick O’Connor, however, and you will get a slightly different answer

“You know a lot of people think right now that government isn’t working,” said O’Connor, R-Weymouth. “They see what’s going on in the national picture, but Massachusetts is working.”

In his first 14 months in office, O’Connor, 33, has taken pride in making himself available to each and every person within the district. The senator for the eight-town Plymouth and Norfolk District previously spent eight years working as a staff member for former state Senator Robert Hedlund in the State House where he was able to experience the bipartisan nature of the Massachusetts state government first-hand.

“I want them to know that their problem is our top concern and that constituent services will be at the forefront of what we do,” said O’Connor, “and that when they call here, that someone is going to listen at the end of the line and try their hardest to provide a solution to that problem.”

Since being sworn in during May of 2016, the Weymouth native has joined a number of committees -- including the Senate Committee for Global Warming and Climate Change, the Special Senate Committee for Addiction Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Options and the Joint Committee of Labor and Workforce Development to name a few -- in his best attempt to give as much back to his constituents as possible.

O’Connor has already proposed 58 bills during his first year in office, many of them geared toward creating a more well-rounded community by assisting constituents as much as possible. Fully funding the state’s “Turning 22” program, for instance, that helps young adults with severe disabilities as they leave special education and transition into the adult service system, is one accomplishment the senator says is a product of the state’s commitment to legislative bipartisanship, something he feels often gets overlooked amidst polarizing partisan politics.

“There are way too many arguments happening right now,” he said in reference to the current national political climate, “and we need to have a lot more conversations.”

Putting time and effort into a variety of constituent services is one of the ways O’Connor feels the state continues to be a model for the rest of the country.

“While there’s dysfunction there has been in the nation’s capital for decades now,” he noted, “they can look back to Massachusetts and see how to govern because of the strides we’ve made.”

Yet the national healthcare debate has inevitably seeped into state politics which frustrates O’Connor among a number of other state legislators. With health insurance expenditures increasing $1 billion last year in the state of Massachusetts alone, O’Connor says the federal government needs to clean up its act and start an open nationwide conversation for the sake of citizens and state governments alike.

“It seems like we should have more conversations and dialogue about what’s going on rather than the secrecy that’s going on rather than parties pitting themselves up against each other,” he said. “What we really need now, and I think what Massachusetts is another good example of, is just bipartisan cooperation to get stuff done to help people have better lives.”

In the meantime, O’Connor has continued to propose legislation he believes will continue to support constituents not only within his district but in communities across the state. To keep in sync with the people of his district, O’Connor posted on Facebook at the beginning of the legislative session asking constituents to recommend bills their office could potentially file.

Adopting ideas brought forth by constituents has helped O’Connor foster a special relationship with his district as he routinely works with constituents to develop legislation they feel appropriately addresses their concerns, no matter how big or small. The senator recently proposed a bill that restricts the purchase of cats and dogs from stores associated with puppy or kitten mills per the wishes of concerned constituents.

Serving the eight communities within the Plymouth and Norfolk District this past year has been “an honor and a privilege” for the senator, who only hopes to continue the progress he’s already made as he enters his second year in office.

“That’s been the consistent trend here,” he said, “is making sure we do as much as we can to provide the people of the district the representation they deserve up here. When people call our office, they get a response.”